History might point to Xerox as the 'cradle' of the graphical user interface, and to the revolution started by Apple and its Macintosh (complete with a hammer launch), but they weren't the only contenders in the race to refine the visual profile of computers. That brings us to Digital Research, a name better known for DR-DOS, which in 1984 began developing GEM or Graphics Environment Manager, an operating environment aimed at systems with Intel chips and the classic Motorola 68000, including the Atari ST line.
The Origins of GEM
The GEM adventure began in the second half of 1984, as an evolutionary leap from the GSX (Graphics System eXtension) library, developed by Don Heiskell and Lee Lorenzen, who came from Xerox PARC itself, and were responsible for a good part of the code. In turn, GSX was an implementation of the Graphical Kernel System, the first ISO standard for low-level computer graphics, published in 1977.
GSX would enable Digital Research to create graphical programs for the major 8- and 16-bit platforms of the time, including the various flavors of CP/M, and MS-DOS. The 16-bit variant of GSX 1.3 was the one that became GEM, and its build 1.0 reached OEMs on February 28, 1985, nine months before Windows 1.0 (November 20, 1985), and five months before Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000 with integrated AmigaOS (July 23, 1985). It also beat IBM's TopView by a few days, but it's worth noting that TopView worked primarily in text mode.
Licenses and Lawsuits
Obviously, GEM had a titanic task ahead: convincing users by reproducing a visual environment very similar to that of the Macintosh on IBM PC hardware, and convincing both manufacturers and developers to adopt it. To that end, Digital Research organized a seminar before the official launch to explain the technical details of GEM, but its representatives started a marketing crisis by confirming that the software only worked on IBM hardware, leaving compatible clones out of the equation. Why? Simple: Digital Research wanted OEMs to pay a license for support.
The developers' response was blunt: no one would touch GEM if it didn't work on popular alternative machines (for example, Compaq computers). Gary Kildall, president and founder of Digital Research, had to step in to calm things down, but they had no choice but to back down on the restriction.
As if that weren't enough, Apple went after Digital Research with the beginnings of a lawsuit over GEM's 'look and feel'. Digital Research never admitted to copyright infringement, but it still reached a settlement with Cupertino: a cash payment, the withdrawal of the first version of GEM, and several graphical changes for version 2.0. The build known as GEM Desktop 2.0 debuted in March 1986 with VGA support, modified icons, and several fixed bugs.
GEM on the Atari ST
The last retail version of GEM was GEM/3 Desktop in November 1988, and with it its commercial sales ended. As early as January of that year, GEM was being discussed as a victim of the lack of leadership at Digital Research, with a deficient marketing strategy. Beyond certain technical details (which could be fixed), like the absence of a good keyboard interface, GEM found firmer ground on the Atari ST line of computers, under the name Atari TOS.
Atari TOS is the result of the GEM graphical environment running on a DOS equivalent called GEMDOS. The original idea was to use GEM on CP/M-68K, for which Digital Research had already created a port for ST computers. However, its technical state was quite poor, and it would need a great deal of additional development.
The second offer from Digital Research was GEMDOS. Atari decided to follow that route with a port of GEMDOS for the Atari ST, and since it handled most of the development for the 68000 version, it could continue its work on Atari TOS without depending on additional licenses from Digital Research, and without facing Apple's legal wrath. The Atari ST line ran from 1985 to 1993, and found several pockets of popularity, especially in the world of music.
GEM Today
Caldera bought what little remained of Digital Research in 1996, but plans to revive GEM never materialized. Instead, that company decided to release GEM's code under GPL 2.0 in 1999. This gave rise to PC variants like FreeGEM and OpenGEM, easily locatable with a bit of Google-fu. In the case of the Atari ST, the best alternative is to find a copy of the clone EmuTOS and use it on actual hardware, or in a compatible emulator like Hatari.
